Outside my window… pitch black. It is 5:40am as I begin to type. Oh yawn. Going to be warm and sunny all week should I be awake enough to notice. ; ) 

I am hearing… older sons preparing to take off. Machinery in back room.  Today would be a very good day for at least one contractor to finish. Yes? Let's hope. Hope with me. 

 I am thinking… about spectrums and malleability since reading Simplicity Parenting. He says q+s=d or something like that.   Premise being that given constant, unrelenting stress kids slide from personal quirkiness along the spectrum into disorders.  However, and this was the revelation, that by simplifying and removing or resolving one stressor after another that slide can and does go the other way.  I think I have actually seen that happen and it stunned me considering popular thought is that the brain is fixed and therefore either works just right or doesn't.  He insists that is not so. I believe him.  

I am thankful for… growth – bumpy as the road that leads there can be. 

I am wearing…  missing husband's big robe. Wish it was filled with him instead.  

I am reading… Making Children's Clothes This was the last of my recent Amazon purchases and WOW.  I saw it last fall at Hobby Lobby while waiting for the girls in class. I regretted leaving it there that night and ordered a copy.  Perfect. It is like the best of all those online tutorials bound into one book with nice sturdy paper patterns included. Very, very simple constructions made oh so cute with pretty fabric. All you need for an entire wardrobe for 1-5yr olds. (more girl than boy options)

From the learning rooms… oh, the singing! <g> And lots of rounds of The Three Bears. Waldorf and Five in a Row folks were right on this one.  Brendan and Tess preferred to hear this one many times last week rather than opt for new stories. His rendition at dinner was unforgettable. He truly knows this story on a deep and personal level. I can tell you we have not made a single 3 Bear craft, nor done any 3 Bear activities, made not a single 3 Bear food, nor any other thing but read together. It's enough. I promise. 

The printer has been sputtering and finally died.  This prompted our new notebooking approach this winter which has been unbelievably successful. We are using composition books into which the bigs transcribe the day's assignments. They proceed to complete them all on the following pages.  The next day we do it all again. That way there is one notebook for all the subjects and we can check their daily work quickly and easily. Aidan and Moira do have separate notebooks for history which is their subject for illustrating and writing more in depth this yr.  Per Laura Berquist we don't attempt to do that for multiple subjects.  

I am creating…. I wish I was creating tiny dresses from the book! Instead I dream about fabric projects while I am creating space and order which should open opportunities to do more creatively in time. In little snippets am mastering photographic textures.  Feels good to learn. 

Pondering these words.. "I am going to bed and when I wake up I am going to have soooo much fun!" – Tess last night. We should all be so certain of the new day's possibilities. 

From the kitchen…  aforementioned cupcakes  Wonderful feather-light Depression era flourless cake sitting in my kitchen this morning. Will be back with recipe.  

Around the house…  "Contractors and closet purging and painting oh my…Contractors and closet purging and painting oh my…."  I know this song by heart now. 

One of my favorite things…  baby girl's new word this last week – "Uh Oh" – heard when noticing things on the floor. Heard often, lol. 

From my picture journal…

see more daybooks at Peggy's